Bedrest
by Foxie5221
Summary: Follows on from Fallout but can be read separately. Toothless is grounded while he recovers from his injury and as a result is incredibly bored.
1. Bedrest

It was one of those perfect days. The sky had evidently decided to shake things up a bit so instead of the usual dreary grey gloom that greeted her nearly every morning it was an intense blue. There wasn't a single cloud. A definite contrast to the three days of rain last week that had then morphed into a blizzard- or as it was probably better known "normal weather". She breathed in the fresh scent of the sea, the grass and…smoke? She glanced over at Hiccup's hut from which a plume was lazily rising.

"Hiccup!" she screamed, sprinting along the narrow walkway that connected their two huts. There came the sound of a small explosion then all of a sudden Hiccup's door was blown off and he flew out with it. "Are you ok?"

"Um" Hiccup was looking slightly charred and somewhat crispy. "I'm fine…". He ran his hand through his blackened hair and one of the plaits behind his ear came off in his hand. "Ish"

"What happened?"

"Two chairs, my bed, a large portion of the floor, my desk…oh and evidently me." He stared at the plait in his palm. "I think that's his personal record. What time is it?"

"8am"

"Oh gods"

When Gobber had told Hiccup that Toothless would need bed rest, he'd envisioned a sleeping dragon who'd be feeling very sorry for himself. That hadn't happened. On the positive side Toothless' tail had been set in a splint so efficiently he felt no pain. Unfortunately that meant he was exceptionally bored. It was only day two and already the dragon had burnt most of his furniture. Of course Toothless didn't mean to do it; it just slipped out but the outlook was beginning to look pretty grim for the survival of his hut. Thirteen days to go.

"Why don't you go and get some water and I'll be with Toothless." Astrid suggested.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah"

"Ok". He paused. "Careful not to let him singe off your beautiful hair."Astrid stared daggers at him, if looks could kill he'd have died on the spot. Actually, he kind of wished he had died on the spot. "Well, I'd better go then" he stammered.

"Why! Why did I do that? I'm such an idiot!" He kicked a tree angrily …and managed to bend his metal leg in half. "Grrrr!" he growled in frustration. After another minute of ranting, the full severity of his predicament hit him. He was probably only about ten minutes from home but he couldn't walk. "Arghhh!" Suddenly a flash of green caught his eye- a terrible terror was dozing in the trees above him. Perfect. "Hey little guy, you want some fish?" It squeaked excitedly and flapped down where it proceeded to guzzle his offering. Meanwhile Hiccup was composing his letter. After his major balls-up with Astrid he didn't want her to think he was helpless- but he also would need to sound pathetic enough so that she would help him. After a lot of thinking he came up with:

Dear Astrid

I have broken my metal leg and am in the forest. Could you please come and get me?

Hiccup

Most of his thinking was about whether or not to put love. He also omitted the part about him kicking a tree- he was sure to come up with a plausible explanation while he waited- he realised he was still holding the plait- but then again today was not his day.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile Astrid was having problems of her own thanks to an ill-conceived decision to bring Stormfly to keep Toothless company. She had imagined them curled up together chatting in their own language. Not playing tag. They had definitely not been meant to play tag. She heard the ominous clatter of something being knocked off a shelf. Being the son of the chief, Hiccup's hut was filled with priceless, irreplaceable heirlooms. Or at least it had been. She had a horrible feeling that it might not be any more. Toothless bounded up the stairs, his tongue flopping out of his mouth, knocking her off her feet. Stormfly followed, her long tail clearing a table with one sweep- this had not been a good idea. A chirp startled her out of her lamentations- a terrible terror was perched on the window, a scroll tied to its leg. She grabbed it and unrolled the scroll. It took a couple of minutes to decipher Hiccup's scrawl- considering what a talented artist he was, his handwriting was abominable. "Stormfly!" she called. A large crash resounded from upstairs, maybe it would be better to walk.

"How did you manage that?"

"Um… I tripped over a tree root."

"Really, a tree root did that?"

"Yep"

"You sure?" she said, glancing at the metal leg shaped dent in a nearby stump. He nodded in what he hoped was a convincing way.

"Hang on, where's Toothless?"

"I left him at the house with Stormfly."

"How are we going to get home without Stormfly?"

"Um…good point."

"I have a suggestion." he said, with what he hoped was a coy, alluring smile. Astrid shot him a look of fire, causing him to make a mental note to never again attempt a coy, alluring smile. She appeared to go through some kind of internal battle before finally giving in. "What's your suggestion?"

"If I put my arm around your shoulders and you put your arm around my waist we could, wow I can actually feel you hating me right now."

"Fine, lets try it but only because it is the only option." she emphasised with an exceptionally stern look.

It took about twenty minutes to hobble to the hut. When they were still about a metre away, Astrid abruptly let go, causing Hiccup to faceplant quite spectacularly into his doorway. "Ow" followed by "Oh my gods, what happened in there?"

"They may have had a spirited game of chase."

"How does a "spirited game of chase" count as bed rest?" he was trying to sound angry but was secretly feeling very pleased that she'd done something wrong. It'd felt like he couldn't do anything right for a couple of days now. For starters Toothless' accident had been his fault, he'd made a truly disastrous attempt to flirt with Astrid and he had bent his own leg in half by kicking a tree. In addition he was pretty sure that Astrid hadn't bought his plausible explanation, which was irritating because he'd thought it was pretty good.

"Sorry, I thought he might want some company and it got a bit out of hand." she looked down at her feet, letting her white-blond hair fall over her pale blue eyes which shimmered like one thousand sapphires…"What are you looking at?" she snapped. Hiccup turned bright red and looked down at his foot. "I guess I'd better go and get my spare."

"Here." Astrid held out her arm, "Well, I wasn't going to make you crawl. I mean I did consider it but I've decided against it."

"Good".

They made their slow way to the hut. Hiccup leaned against the doorway and was bowled over by a euphoric Toothless. "Hey, Bud good to see you. What's that you've got in your mouth?" He could see a glint of metal. "Have you eaten my helmet again?" Toothless bounded up the stairs and Hiccup ran after him. Or he was meant to but instead of following, he stepped on his non-existent leg, found only air and face planted. In front of Astrid. For the second time that day. And it was only 10am. A slender, white arm reached down to help him up. "You ok"

"I'm fine." he said in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner. Astrid helped him to a bench. "Maybe it would be better if I took Stormfly."

"Oh, ok, you do that." With the aid of chicken she tempted the overexcited nadder out and Toothless who was exhausted from that morning's exertions came to lean his head on Hiccup's lap. "You all tired out, huh Bud. Maybe you could have a relaxing sleep all afternoon and, what are you chewing?" He managed to lever his sleepy dragon's mouth open, and he sighed. "Toothless. Did you eat my leg?" The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself gave him his very best puppy eyes. Hiccup extracted the mangled remains of his prosthetic limb. It was covered in dragon slobber and teeth marks. "Oh gods." Twelve and a half days to go.


End file.
